


Neurodiversity

by relevedemipointe



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F, Person of Interest, Roaw, Root - Freeform, Samantha Groves - Freeform, sameen shaw - Freeform, shoot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-21
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-25 19:53:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7545823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/relevedemipointe/pseuds/relevedemipointe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I love Root and Shaw and their relationship so here's a little writing on that. It's meant to be an on-going but I suck at being consistent so I hope I'll have the time. </p>
<p>Please enjoy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sameen sighed.

Fourteen thousand, four hundred and eighteen seconds now, and all she really wanted to do was to cuddle up in her blankets and sleep. She wondered what Bear was doing at the moment. Probably being a slug as usual, curled up and waiting for her return. She did leave him his dinner in the morning… God, she missed her bed. And her fluffy blanket. Sameen made a promise to herself to find a new bunk that was just as comfy and stay in bed for a week after she got out. Fudge all.

The tight constraints around her arms and legs didn’t bother her as much as the awfully familiar stench seeping through the black bag over her face. Unnecessary. Really. She already knew where she was. It was a lovely little ten by ten room with painted grey walls. A single steel chair, and a whole lot of fun. Give or take a couple of needles, knuckles, and an electric rod. They called it The Abyss, but Sameen referred to it endearingly as “the furthest point you could get from sleep”. A euphemism that earned her the record of enjoying most of the room’s subtleties in her training years.

On a good day, which was every day since graduation, Sameen would be on the other side of the glass in front of her. Unfortunately, she found herself in be in a bit of a situation. She had just put a bullet in the head of her handler after all. And her team, unfortunately, had to go as well. She had almost made it out of the country a few hours ago until she found a very delicate needle pierce her skin and the sweet feeling of dropping in her fluffy brain once again. She couldn’t even turn fast enough to catch a glimpse of who did it. But in this case, Sameen knew that someone was watching her in that very moment. Some sick, twisted person who was playing with her mind. Sameen would have just let her boredom help her drop off to slumber, but there was something off about this particular person that drew out her stubbornness. He, or she, knew what Sameen hated the most.

Waiting.

Sameen hated waiting, and she didn’t like explaining why almost as much as the wait itself.

Fourteen thousand, five hundred seconds.

She was going to break the neck of whoever stepped into the room next. Unless it was Bear.  

The handle clicked, and the door opened.

A small set of heels walked into the room.

The darkness lifted, and Shaw found herself staring wearily at a dark-haired girl who smiled brightly back at her. She looked almost pixie-like, with her small stature, sharp nose-bridge, and brown, flowy hair that rested lusciously on her shoulders. The thing that really upset Sameen was the girl’s apparent cheerful, nonchalant demeanour, practically prancing as the latter found a seat opposite herself.

“You look awful, sweetie,” the girl crooned, her smile still as bright as the first time Sameen saw it. “Are you feeling okay?”

“How old are you, anyway?”

Sameen decided to go with nonchalance. She was pretty much screwed the moment she got caught, god knows where she was, and she was honestly, endlessly tired. Three full-day missions and a ton of coffee did that to her. Nevertheless, she thought that if she could bait her captor, she would be able to grab her the moment she got close. That was the plan. So far.  

“Sam, you know it’s rude to ask a girl for her age, don’t you?” Pixie replied with a slight tilt of her head, clearly staying in the safe radius outside of Sameen’s potential attack radius, reading into the latter’s prying eyes. The way her hair flicked along with her head stirred something weird within Sameen’s heart, but the latter was more focused on digging into the cables around her wrists at that moment.

Out of nowhere, Pixie reached forward and _caressed_  Sameen’s cheek with the palm of her hand.

It took everything in Sameen not to flinch.

“You’re a little cold. And pale. Maybe I shouldn’t have waited so long.”

Pixie seemed to be concerned. Genuinely concerned. Which was confused Sameen to no end. But more importantly, Pixie seemed to almost be talking to herself rather than to Sameen herself, shaking her head a little in disappointment.

Weird.

“Maybe you should just let me go, pixie dixie,” Sameen replied in similar fashion, rolling her eyes as she gave a patronising smile. The cable tie was really hurting now. Pixie had really made sure to pull it down to the last tooth. She was pretty sure the wetness around her wrists was blood, not sweat, but she could use anything she could get to slip out of her cuffs.

She was almost there, just one… maybe two inches more.

“I can’t do that. Not yet, anyway,” the girl replied with a brief shake of her head in a really, childish way.

There was something inexplicably seductive about the girl in front of her. A leopard, observing – staring – and playing with her food. Something intensely captivating that Sameen couldn’t shake her eye contact. Her face was inches away now – too close – Sameen hated it when people got this close. She couldn’t explain why but she just hated it. Stop.

She tugged just a little harder, and the cuffs slipped.

“Getting framed sucks, don’t you think?” she asked, with the same amount of nonchalance just as Sameen mentally punched her in the throat with as much force as she could master.

“What?”

Sameen was confused once again, her clenched fist held behind her back.

“I said, getting framed sucks, don’t you think?” Pixie repeated herself, leaning back a little as a small smile began to grow on her lips again. “It’s one of the downsides of being a _NOC_.”

“So you know about what happened?” Sameen enunciated each word one after the other, trying to put everything together. It didn’t fit.

“Of course. It’s part of my job and I’m very good at what I do.”

“Then what is all _this_ for?” Sameen raised her hands, gesturing to her own body, as the realization that she could have been sleeping in her bunk instead of playing games came to her.

Now she _really_ wanted to break her neck.

Root tilted her head to the side again, letting her wavy hair fall a little as her perfect canines glinted under the light.

“I couldn’t understand Sameen Shaw when I got her file a few days ago,” Pixie said softly, “Even after meeting you, I still can’t quite understand you yet, Sameen, and it bothers me.”

Pixie’s smile fell from her face, and Sameen had never felt a mixture of being utterly confused, annoyed, and angry as much as how she felt in that moment before.

“It bothers you? _Really_?” Sameen raised her eyebrows, feeling the numbness set around her wrists. She picked at cable ties around her legs, ripping them off, then came to her feet.

Amidst her fit, Sameen realized that Pixie was actually just a little taller than herself. Perhaps the childish demeanour just made her that much more… It didn’t matter. The only thing Sameen wanted in this moment was to get out of this freak show and put her head on a pillow, so she simply ignored the concerned, weird look on Pixie’s face and stormed off.

To hell with who she was, or what she actually wanted.

Just another day in paradise.

Just another day dealing with the world’s bullshit.

Yet, as Sameen reached the door, something, perhaps that strange feeling in her heart, made her stop in her tracks.

A little light in the void.

Turning around slowly, she met the curious eyes of Pixie with a cold look.

“Who are you, anyway?” she asked, “Some freak from Intelligence or Command?”

A small smile grew on the girl’s face.

“A little bit of both. I’m your new handler. Most people call me ma’am, but for you sweetie…

You can call me Root.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Your new handler…”

“You can call me Root.”

_So Pixie had a stupid name to go with her weird personality. Who would have thought?_

Sameen scoffed as she scooped up the last of the bloodstained cotton buds and threw them into the trash. It was a quick-stop at medical where she treated herself with a bandage, against the doctor’s insistence that _someone_ had given orders for Sameen to be treated and given food, before undergoing a full medical screening. They even had grilled chicken and the milk in a nice silver tray. Nevertheless, Sameen decided to take the tray of goodies back to her room so _Root_ would not get the satisfaction. Weirdo.

By the time Sameen reached her bedroom, almost half of the food on the tray had already disappeared past her chewing mouth. As she opened the door with her free arm, a familiar bark greeted her ears as a huge Malinois bounded towards her, almost knocking her food off balance.

“Guess who’s hungry?” Sameen cooed as she knelt down to share some of the edible treats with Bear.

Just then, an unfamiliar cough from a not-too-familiar voice caused Sameen to turn back to the door.

_Little Fairy Lights. Great._

“Sweetie, you do know that you are due for a full medical screening today, right?” Root said in a not-too-passive, not-too-aggressive tone.

“Bear says I’m fine,” Sameen replied plainly, rubbing Bear between his ears as the latter continued to munch on chicken bites.

The one thing in the world she was really due for in that moment was to smash her new handler’s face in so hard that the latter would not be able to ever call her “sweetie” again. Unfortunately, according to the medical database, this lovely pixie who had made her wait 4 hours, bound, and starving, was _in fact_ her new handler. Until Sameen decided whether she was going to stay in The Agency, she made the extra effort avoid eye-contact with Root so that the latter knew she was not welcomed.  

“It’s protocol. And as your new handler, I must insist on your presence.”

“Actually you know what? You’re right. I’m feeling a little off, because _someone_ decided to lock me up for hours for her own pleasure. Just leave me alone,” Sameen retorted, slightly surprised at herself for her tired outburst. Root’s passive-aggressive demanding tone was getting to her and it was not her fault. Sameen had impeccable emotional control, or the lack thereof, but _stupid-name_ seemed to poke in all the right spots.

Root’s expression seemed to soften from Sameen’s glare, almost as though Sameen had finally gotten through to her.

“Medical. One hour. Don’t be late.”

Root didn’t smile before she turned and left.

…

Sameen was ten out of ten fine. Minus the cuts on her wrists and her bruised ego.

_Big surprise._

Sameen rolled her eyes as she grabbed her cardigan and brushed past a slightly mellowed Root on the way out.

She was officially off-duty now after clearing her medical and completing the relevant post-operation debriefs. Off-duty not only meant that she could drop by her favourite sandwich shop across the street from the main building, but most importantly, it meant that she had no reason or obligation at all, to be hanging out with her newfound friend.

Sameen was certain as hell she was not going to take up Root’s lunch offer.

What she did not expect, however, was for Jake Violet from Command to greet Root as he passed by the medical centre. Jake was the Assistant Director of Operations at the Agency, a person Sameen didn’t even get to talk to, so that little nod and smile in the hallway really threw her off.

_Who was Root?_

She didn’t really care, of course. Or she tried to convince herself that she didn’t. Not after searching the database for Root’s name and hitting the old, moronic “classified” warning.

She didn’t care.

Sameen had a tendency _not_ to get close to people. Liabilities. That die. She had learnt from a young age. Trust no one. And her lack of emotional capacity further aided her ability not to care. The only person she ever made a connection with was her partner in the Agency, but it was short-lived as he kissed the bullet for her. And her previous handler was a complete dick. All in all, Sameen just wanted to be left alone.

“More lettuce and tomatoes please. And light on the sauce.”

_God. Damn._

Sameen’s eyes rolled to her right as her head cranked ever slowly in robotic fashion.

“What, _the hell_ , are you doing here?” she almost exclaimed. Almost.

Instead, Sameen realized her best course of action was to ignore the obsessive nutcase who had just settled into the seat beside her.

So she turned her eyes back to her sandwich, and took another bite.

“Mmmm… the sandwiches are really good. I’m glad I decided to come here today.”

Ignore.

“It’s even better when you share.”

_Ignore._

“I…”

Sameen grabbed the rest of her sandwich wrapping, stood up and pushed her stool back, before storming out of the sandwich place.

Approximately three blocks down, after weaving through a crowded traffic junction and two evasive moves, Sameen turned around to face Root at last. She was pacing in such a casual carefree way that it ruffled every last one of Sameen’s feathers.

“Are you being this overbearing on purpose? Or are you naturally this psychotic?” Sameen asked, her voice dead-cold as she placed her fists on her hips.

“That hurts my feelings, Sameen. I just want to get to know you better.” Root said with the same trademark _smug_ smile that was starting to get on Sameen’s nerves. There was a little of something else in her eyes, but Sameen didn’t notice it past the red of her own eyes.

_What was so funny?_

“I don’t know how you can’t see how disturbing that is. Last warning. Leave me alone.” Sameen said, unflinching, before she turned away and just then…

“Or what, sweetie?”

Turning back, almost in slow motion, Sameen glared at Root for a good ten seconds before she made up her mind.

Sameen’s fist connected squarely on the side of Root’s cheek.

 


End file.
